Tale from the other side
by soulmaker
Summary: We all know Team 7. The uchiha, the senju, Konoha, it has all been revealed to us. This is a story about a land that is hardly seen in the manga, a place locked in civil war held behind a curtain of mist. This isn't about Naruto, it's not about the uchiha or the senju. This is the tale of one Rozan Nagano, and how his actions might just help change the world.


He was surrounded, three enemies working in tandom to take down the bigger threat, a cowardly strategy but effective none the less. Normally the would not have gotten the drop on him, but his previous opponent warranted enough of his attention that these three hacks could get into position without harassment. It didn't matter. Even with the blanket of mist that permanently hung over the land, Rozan could hear them shuffling, hear them fumbling their equipment. A few moments later, they struck. Metal in hand they aimed to pierce his frame, the intent to kill carved into their actions, but they were not as coordinated as they though and because of it Rozan was able to dodge, to out maneuver, to exploit. He took them one at a time, graceful blows with the accuracy and strength to break bones and dislodge joints. In four moves he had them all incapacitated and groaning in pain on the damp ground. He should have known better.

A barrage of kunai and shuriken sliced through the mist and sunk into his flesh, shock and pain clear on his face before it changed, a poof of smoke as a log filled his place. The sounds of combat could be heard echoing through the clearing, the clash of metal on metal, grunts of effort and pain. Then a bright flash of orange, before the mist was cleared away by intense heat from a huge ball of fire that vanished just as quickly as it came, leaving two children one boy and the other a girl exchanging blows in a grassy field. They seemed to be on par with one another, neither able gain advantage over the other, at least not at the moment. But with each blow that began to gradually change. The boy was struggling to counter attack, for each blow he launched, two more were coming back at him. Soon he was purely on the defense, the girl was much to fast for him even when he started to retreat.

But he was not without a plan. While the exchange seemed hopelessly one sided, in reality he was only biding his time, waiting for an opening that he was sure would come. His arms started to tire, each blow blocked built up damage which made them heavy with pain, but still he endured. Endured, and endured some more. Finally she slowed, failing to retract her fist in time lead him to counter, lashing out with a right hook that would catch her square in the jaw should it land. The last thing he expected was a smile from his purple eyed opponent. It was a ploy, a clever ruse to break his shell before doubling her speed. The hook sailed harmlessly past her, and with finesse captured the arm within her hand, his wrist locked before he was forced to his knees, her other hand pressed hard at his shoulder blade. She had him.

"Give up?" Her voice was thick with humor and he was sure that catlike smile was plastered on her face, even if he could not see it.

"Never-GAHHH-MMMMMM!" She dislocated the shoulder, his arm convulsing as a sickening pop vibrated from his arm to his teeth.

"Oh quit being a baby. I do believe that is the last one sensei"

"Quite."

A pool of water swirled rapidly, bringing with it a pale man with a bored expression on his face. Black cargo pants and shirt with a blue vest with six pockets on the front, black ninja sandaled all tied together with a metal headband with the symbol of Kirigakure etched into it. Tonza Guiome, or Tonza-sensei. His eyes lingered on the two for a moment, brown orbs calculating their performance while the other academy students gathered themselves from the depths of defeat. "To me." He barely raised his voice, yet it seemed to carry all over the island as each ninja wanna be fell into position. Three colums and four rows, all of them kneeling, well almost all of them.

"Sensei, could you..." Rozan left the question hanging, his arm still throbbed with each breath, but he could not fix this himself.

Without a word, he walked over grabbed the arm with no sigh of compassion or concern, and jammed the apendage back into place without warning. The boy hissed in pain, his eyes threatening to tear up but he held firm, "Th-thank you sensei." Taking his position, shooting a glare at the one responsible for his agony, Rozan waited for his teacher to speak.

"Many of you might be thinking that you fought well, that you are good enough to obtain the irrelevent title of genin a piss above academy brats. You might be thinking that because you bested one opponent, or perhaps two, that you can now represent the greatest ninja country in the world with your raw talent. Let me tell you something," He paused here, his eyes scanning over the battle tired children as he locked eyes with each of them before stopping on Rozan, "none of you are even close to being talented. Of all the shitty fighting I've ever had the displeasure of watching this years class was the worst. If i had my way, if Kiri was not in need of more ninja, then you would all fail and i would personally seal of chakra before you did something stupid to shame the pride of Kiri!"

He could hear some of the other kids shuffling uncomfortably, but Rozan was not fooled. He KNEW he was good, better than all the rest of these pieces of trash that dared to call themselves ninja hopefuls. This was just how the teachers did things, first the rod then the sugar, but even that would have to be picked out from the backhanded remarks. Another ninja came from the mist and handed the older ninja a list, probably a list of all those that had passed. The silence from the class was almost defining in a way, and even though Rozan was confident he passed he could still hear his heart thumping nervously in his chest.

"Of all you shitty-nin only six have made it. That's right you useless brats, only half of you are going on to be ninja, for the rest it's back to the books for another grueling year of class. If I call your name stand off to the side, those left behind will have the privillage of going back to mommy and daddy to tell them you shamed the family name."

This was it, if his name was called then he would be one step closer to fulfilling his goal and all his hard work over the past three years would finally pay off. He felt someone nudge him from his left and while he didn't want to turn to look he knew who it was. Kasumi Hidioshi, his most hated rival since the start of the academy. Everything he did, from academics to target practice seemed to come up short whenever he compared to her. If he got eight of ten she got nine, if he got it done, she got it done in record time. It was infuriating, but what made it worse was her attitude. She was the best of them, something he would never admit aloud even under the most gruesome of torture, but she had proved it many times before and this last one was just the icing on the cake.

He turned to glare at her, the two instructors were busy talking in low tones probably about some last minute evaluations. She was signing at him an ability all the genin were forced to learn less they wash out of the program. Because of the mist it was a somewhat outdated concept, physical visability was always limited within water country, but outside of that it had its uses.

'Nervous?' One might mistake it for concern, but Rozan knew from the smirk on her face that it was meant to be insulting. With a quick glance to his superiors, the youngster signed back.

'You wish.'

Turning his attention back to his teacher, Rozan awaited the results of the test, and with it his fate.

**A/N: I wrote this because i was bored. Now i'll admit, i'm not the greatest author on FF or even the most consistant, but i've wanted to write an OC into the Naruto verse for sometime now, and what better way than to use my own character from a site i frequent? Still i would like to know if you, the readers, would go for this story. Do you like what you're seeing so far? Would you be ok with it being OC characters until the wave arc? Course the cannons would still be around, but they would not be the focus of this story, at least not for a while. Please review.**


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